LEASE chair Roger Southam resigns

The taxpayer-funded Leasehold Advisory Service, LEASE, has announced this evening that its non-executive chair, Roger Southam, has resigned with immediate effect.

No explanation for the resignation is given, but it follows calls from the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership that he resign, questions in the Commons from MPs such as Justin Madders and LKP patron Sir Peter Bottomley and an eruption of April 1 emails to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid from the Facebook group, the National Leasehold Campaign.

Sir Peter said:

“A number of reasons have caused many in the leasehold sector to question how Roger Southam could be the appropriate person to chair the Leasehold Advisory Service.

“It may now be possible for LEASE to speak openly about the abuses suffered for too long by too many residential leaseholders.”

Today it was confirmed to LKP by property giant Savills that Mr Southam is no longer in its employ. He sold his property management Chainbow to the company just over a year ago.

The emails urging Mr Southam’s resignation on April 1 can be read on the link above.

The LEASE statement published on the evening of Friday the 13th of April reads:

“Today we are announcing that effective immediately Roger Southam will step down from his position as Chair of LEASE.

“Details of an interim Chair will be announced in due course.

“In the meantime, the Board and staff will continue to drive the organisation forward in meeting the needs of leaseholders and park home owners.”

The leasehold and commonhold reform APPG co-Chair MP’s Sir Peter Bottomley, Jim Fitzpatrick and Sir Edward Davey along with vice Chair MP Justin Madders had long been critical of Mr Southams role and have called on the government to ask Mr Southam to stand down.

LKP welcomes the departure of Mr Southam, but remains deeply concerned by the long-standing management ethos of the Leasehold Advisory Service originally created Lord Young in the 1990’s. LEASE was set up as a temporary service to help inform all parties about the 1993 Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act.

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The leasehold game is weighted against ordinary home-owning leaseholders, who aren’t professional players. LKP was set up to redress the balance, to help you win your disputes or at least avoid disasters.

If you have a leasehold problem, you can email sok@leaseholdknowledge or take a chance on calling 07808 328 230.

Roger has made the right decision for the benefit of everyone including himself. I did say I would be the first to congratulate him if he came to this decision. So thanks Roger, you can now concentrate on the many other subjects you are an expert in. But please always remember us. And please LEASE , give more consideration to the Leaseholders when making your next appointment., That is what your website says you do, and what the Government pays you for..

And About time too , conflict of interest was an understatement. Now let’s hope they actually employ someone that will actually help us leaseholders !! Seb , Martin polish up your CVs !!! If only this could happen !!!!!

This is very welcome news, conflicts of interest in a government appointed organisation should never be allowed. There are some very well qualified people I can think of who understand the complexities of leasehold tenure who would advocate for leaseholders in an open and ethical manner who could take up the reigns of this post. Maybe LEASE even needs dissolving and a new organisation made to take its place.

Roger Southams resignation has given me renewed hope that people power can change things for the better. Conflicts of interest were exposed. Voices were heard. Change is happening. It is my deepest desire that this good news is continued with Sajid Javid forcing an immediate ban on the sale of leasehold houses. Come on Sajid, give us something to be cheerful about. Make the developers stop this extortion and put things how they should be.

As I said on the previous Roger Southam article. Some of the other LEASE employees/volunteers have experience in maximising profits for freeholders and debt collecting or work for companies who do so. LEASE could do with a few new faces.

Great news. A real time for change. Lease needs a change of direction and given their wealth of knowledge in the area I wholeheartedly recommend Martin or Sebastian from LKP to at the very least be appointed to the board. Only that way then can we have real faith and trust that the right people are really leading from the front and are on our side in making the best decisions for all those implicated in the mess that is the current leasehold scandal.

His maiden speech at a LEASE conference circa 2015 was the last such conference I attended (I endured it but walked out afterwards). He did an unsuccessful comedy turn or, at least, that is what I assumed that he intended. Be vigilant, the man will bounce back with his ego intact.

Great news. All we need now is to hear the feudal landlords, Vincent Tchenguiz, William Waldorf Astor, Firstport, E&M and the directors of McCarthy Stone to mysteriously slip on a banana skin to meet their demise. One can hope. Novichok anyone?

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